Isabella Casillas Guzman, head of the Small Business Administration, turned down an invite to appear before the House Small Business Committee, citing scheduling conflicts.
As a result, lawmakers were left scrambling to rectify the vast gap between the SBA’s $36 billion estimate of COVID-19 fraud and the $200 billion projection from its Office of Inspector General, led by Hannibal Ware — who did find the time to show up for the hearing.
“I want to reiterate how disappointed I am the administrator did not show up today,” committee Chairman Roger Williams (R-Texas) said during the Q-and-A period.
“This is a big deal. And I would assume she would have an army of her staff here to defend her work and the SBA as a whole.”
[That’s a bad look, especially for an administration that brags about deficit control (without justification). When $200 billion goes missing, the officials in the executive branch responsible for it had better show up. — Ed]
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